I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to thin film magnetic recording and storage devices having high abrasion and wear resistance and a method of producing such devices. Since only slight damage to a magnetic film will likely result in improper recording of the information desired to be stored, abrasion and wear resistance is a desired quality of magnetic recording and storage devices. For example, in recording apparatus, using magnetic recording and storage disks as the storage device, even though the read and write head of such apparatus does not normally contact the disk during actual operation, the head does impact with the disk and bounce several times when the disk first begins to spin up to its operating speed, which is normally between 2400 rpm and 3600 rpm. These impacts can be highly damaging to the brittle solid magnetic material now being used on certain types of magnetic disks.
II. Prior Art
In conventional magnetic recording and storage devices the magnetic layer or film is comprised of particles such as, for example, particles of magnetite (Fe.sub.3 O.sub.4) or gamma ferric oxide (.gamma.-Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3) which are bonded to each other and to the substrate by such bonding and filler materials as vinyl, urethane, epoxy or the like. Such a combination layer of binder and magnetic particles is somewhat flexible and is not significantly affected by abrasion or impacts received from the read and write head. However, improved magnetic recording and storage devices having higher coercivity, lighter weight and thinner magnetic layers or films are now being economically produced. These devices have a thin solid magnetic film which is chemically bonded to the substrate such that no bonding or filler material is required. Experiments indicate that the magnetic recording properties of these solid film devices are superior to conventional devices. However, the solid magnetic film chemically bonded to the substrate is somewhat brittle and cannot readily withstand repeated impact and abrasion. Therefore, it has become desirable to find some means of increasing the abrasion and wear resistance of these films.